Aug 7, 2012

DVD Releases We Dig This Week (08.07.12)

In the past few months, we've been enamoured of the releases by Olive Films, who has been tenacious at putting out material never before seen on disk (let alone VHS). Olive has even more exciting releases down the turnpike, which will be discussed at the appropriate times. Right now, we're thrilled to report that our new favourite DVD company is releasing the 1981 horror fave, The Boogens, this week.

One of the most-requested titles for DVD or Blu-Ray release, this tale concerns some scaly monsters who are discovered in a mine during an excavation, and continue their bloodshed anew. This flick was given a positive notice by author Stephen King in his non-fiction book Danse Macabre, and similarly won the hearts of those who had seen it during the drive-in glory days. Despite that the Republic VHS is still floating around, and that it has shown a couple of times on TCM, yours truly sheepishly admits to never having seen it, especially since it features cutie pie Rebecca Balding.

Ms. Balding was a teenage crush of mine after having viewed her good work in 1980's Silent Scream, in which the pretty young starlet showed strong dramatic talent and a spunky personality. That film and The Boogens hinted that she could have had a strong career in the 1980's as a new scream queen- alas she faded from the spotlight.

Also of interest, The Boogens was directed by James L. Conway, who helmed many of those Sunn Classics paranormal documentaries in the 1970s, including In Search of Noah's Ark and Beyond And Back. Mr. Conway and Ms. Balding (who are married) are among those featured in the feature-length audio commentary track. Usually, Olive releases are bare-bones disks (which is a minor quibble since we're fortunate to see the films at all), but the commentary track should be a welcome bonus, especially since a mystique has developed around this little picture.

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Thisis the online companion to my print publication, The Eclectic Screening Room, featuring film reviews and articles. Since the print zine has published far less frequently in recent years, this blog can be more timely with news and reviews. In addition to writings exclusive to the web, this site also features pieces from out-of-print back issues of the old zine.